After completing his Ph.D. from the M.S. University of Baroda in 1966, Dr.
Vasant Joshi left for USA having been admitted for the graduate program in
English Literature at University of Wisconsin, Madison. While he was a
student at University of Wisconsin, Dr. Joshi got an invitation to teach a
course on *The Cultural and Literary Traditions of India *at University of
California, Berkeley. Although the course was to be offered for only one
year, Dr. Joshi ended up teaching it for four years (1967-1971). Those were
the days when the United States was deeply caught up in Vietnam War and the
Berkeley campus was then the bastion of free speech movement protesting
against the War. On the other hand, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Beatles,
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, the Hare Krishna movement,
contributed significantly in attracting young people toward learning about
the Indian culture.